Check Out the First Tweets of These 10 Tech Giants

Twitter's 8th birthday surprise lets you take a trip down memory lane and relive your first tweets.

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Twitter turned eight today, which is a somewhat unremarkable anniversary. But the micro-blogging site is making things more interesting by releasing a new tool that lets you find your first tweet - as well as the first tweets of anyone with a public account.

Just navigate to the first tweet website and type in the Twitter handles of friends, co-workers, celebs, and other luminaries. My first tweet, from Sept. 2009, was about the FCC proposing new net neutrality rules, so some things never change, apparently. The first tweet from PCMag (pictured), meanwhile, from June 2008, was a link to a Michael Miller piece about dispelling iPhone myths and rumors.

Over the years, a number of tech execs have jumped on the Twitter bandwagon, from Bill Gates to Tim Cook. Unfortunately, most peoples' first tweets are somewhat boring; quick blips about getting set up, being forced to tweet, or a little self-promotion. But it is fun to take a trip down memory lane. In the grand scheme of things, eight years isn't a huge amount of time, but in tech, it can be a lifetime. Who knew that 140-character messages would have such an impact on (some of) our daily lives? Check out some of the first tweets from tech's biggest names.

Tim Cook: Apple's CEO just joined Twitter last year and has only sent out about 45 tweets. But many, if not all, of them garnered headlines, like this one about last year's iPhone launch.

Visited Retail Stores in Palo Alto today. Seeing so many happy customers reminds us of why we do what we do.

Bill Gates: The Microsoft co-founder was a few years ahead of Cook, making his mark on Twitter with a nod to the "Hello World" computer program. In four years, he's amassed more than 15 million followers with tweets that focus primarily on his philanthropic efforts.

"Hello World."
Hard at work on my foundation letter - publishing on 1/25.

Elon Musk: The real-life Tony Stark thwarted an imposter and claimed the @elonmusk Twitter feed in June 2010. Though he has since used Twitter to publicly battle his detractors - from The New York Times to NJ Gov. Chris Christie - he was quite pleasant in his first tweet, even inserting a smiley face.

Please ignore prior tweets, as that was someone pretending to be me :) This is actually me.

Eric Schmidt: The Google executive chairman - then CEO of the search giant - made his Twitter debut with a plug for an upcoming appearance on CNN. Schmidt is not a terribly prolific tweeter; having only posted 178 messages in just over four years, but has amassed about 783,000 followers.

CNN GPS with Fareed Zakaria on Nov 29th, starts around minute 17; Fareed is a very good interviewer http://bit.ly/6GwGjn

Steve Wozniak: The Woz's first tweet was certainly not boring. But lest you think that the Apple co-founder is a regular at the dance studio, his message was a reference to his season of Dancing With the Stars, from which he was eliminated just a few weeks later.

Rare massage (for me), then dance practice. No pain, no gain. Awkward but fun, this dancing. I still can't do Macarena.

Steven Sinofsky: The former Windows chief unlocked his Twitter account just prior to the launch of Windows 8. But a presence on social media was not enough to keep him around at Redmond; two months later, he was out. He's not doing too bad for himself, though, with gigs at Harvard, Andreessen Horowitz, and Box.

Marissa Mayer: Before she was Yahoo's CEO, Mayer was a Google exec taking in the sites in Baltimore. Mayer tends to tweet more than some of her CEO counterparts, but it's not usually anything personal and focuses largely on Yahoo products.

Discovered the American Visionary Arts Museum in Baltimore -- extremely cool in terms of art and its philosophies (http://www.avam.org/)

Sean Parker: The Napster co-founder, who played an early role in the development of Facebook, gave a shout out (and apology) to Zuckerberg in his first tweet, arguing that Hollywood manager Scooter Braun made him do it.

Sorry Zuck, I had to do it eventually. (Actually @scooterbraun made me do it.)

Chloe Albanesius has been with PCMag.com since April 2007, most recently as Executive Editor for News and Features. Prior to that, she worked for a year covering financial IT on Wall Street for Incisive Media. From 2002 to 2005, Chloe covered technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from American University...
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